President Barack Obama has been accused by a senior Republican of being eager to take the US over the fiscal cliff for political gain, as Washington edges closer to a year-end deadline with no deal in sight.

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"It's a common thing," says Balvinder Kaur Saund, a Labour councillor for the London Borough of Redbridge and chair of the Sikh Women's Alliance, "to walk through an estate in (some parts of east London) and young boys throw stones and shout 'Taliban' at you. I have seen that myself."

The main beneficiary of Susan Rice's withdrawal from the race for secretary of state is John Kerry, who takes on the mantle of frontrunner for the most prestigious job in the administration – other than the presidency.

The Obama administration has invited the head of the newly recognised Syrian rebel coalition, Moaz al-Khatib, to Washington as the US attempts to build a sympathetic administration to slot into place and keep hostile Islamist forces at bay when President Bashar al-Assad falls.